The list of 20 smart cities out of the 98 shortlisted for the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ was released.

These 20 cities will be the first to receive funds, thus kickstarting the process of developing them into ‘smart cities’.

The next two years will see the inclusion of 40 and 38 cities, respectively.

What is a ‘Smart City’?

A ‘smart city’ is an urban region that is highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate, communications and market viability.

It is a city where information technology is the principal infrastructure and the basis for providing essential services to residents.

There are many technological platforms involved, including but not limited to automated sensor networks and data centres.

Quick facts about Smart Cities:

In terms of population, these 20 cities account for 3.54 crore people.

A total investment of Rs.50,802 crore has been proposed in the selected smart cities and towns during the five-year period.

Bottom-up approach has been the key planning principle under Smart City Mission.

These cities will be developed to have basic infrastructure through assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation.

The Smart Cities mission, launched by PM Narendra Modi, will provide central funding of Rs 48,000 crore to the selected cities for improving their infrastructure and service delivery through application of better technology and e-governance.

In the first year, Government proposes to give Rs.200 crore to each selected smart city to create a higher initial corpus. After deducting the Rs. Two crore advance and Administrative and Operational Expenses share of the Ministry of Urban Development, each selected Smart City will be given Rs. 194 crore out of Rs. 200 crore in the first year followed by Rs. 98 crore out of Rs. 100 crore every year for the next three years.

States and Urban local Bodies (ULBs) will play a key supportive role in the development of Smart Cities. Smart leadership and vision at this level and ability to act decisively will be important factors determining the success of the Mission.

The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose. The SPV will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects. Each smart city will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Government, State Government and ULB on its Board.

The total number of 100 smart cities have been distributed among the States and UTs on the basis of an equitable criteria. The formula gives equal weightage (50:50) to urban population of the State/UT and the number of statutory towns in the State/UT.

Based on an assessment of the performance of States/ULBs in the Challenge, some re-allocation of the remaining potential smart cities among States may be required to be done by Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).